A novel synthesis of hierarchical porous carbons from resol by potassium acetate activation for high performance supercapacitor electrodes

A novel strategy for the synthesis of hierarchical porous carbons (HPCs) from resol by potassium acetate activation for advanced supercapacitor electrodes was reported. The resultant HPCs with a high specific surface area up to 1201 m2 g−1 as a supercapacitor electrode exhibits a high specific capacitance of 226 F g−1 at 0.05 A g−1. Besides, the electrode shows high rate capability with 62.4% retention from 0.05 to 20 A g−1. Moreover, it demonstrates good cyclic stability, showing a high capacitance retention of 97.1% over 5000 charge-discharge cycles at 2.0 A g−1. The facile, efficient and template-free synthesis strategy for novel 3D-HPCs may promote commercial application of HPCs in the fields of supercapacitors.